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Back at the start of September, we reported that Hackney Council had come in for criticism after one of its officers slapped an enforcement notice on a family-owned cargo bike parked on a pavement, demanding its removal within seven days.
Just under seven weeks later (so, Liz Truss’s entire stint in No. 10 then), the council has once again been blasted for issuing the so-called ‘nuisance’ notices, this time to two bikes locked outside their owners’ home on the footpath.
@hackneycouncil what on earth is going on? Not just cargobikes, you are now ticketing ‘standard’ cycles locked outside people’s houses (with PLENTY of space left on the pavement). We have two cycle hangers for over 100 houses/flats! @metecoban92 can you please stop this nonsense? pic.twitter.com/WKmhoypxUg
— Ruth-Anna (@bikesandbabies) October 22, 2022
Posting images of the parked bikes on Twitter, along with the seven-day notice to remove them from the street, local cyclist Ruth-Anna wrote: “Hackney Council, what on earth is going on? Not just cargo bikes, you are now ticketing ‘standard’ cycles locked outside people’s houses (with PLENTY of space left on the pavement). We have two cycle hangars for over 100 houses/flats!”
She also called on Hackney councillor Mete Coban, who has expressed sympathy in the past for the plight of cyclists forced to store their bikes outside, to “stop this nonsense”.
> Council slaps nuisance notice on family cargo bike parked on pavement
In September, Will Prochaska’s cargo bike, which he uses to transport his three toddlers around the area and which is parked on the pavement due to a lack of private storage space, was issued with a seven-day ‘nuisance’ notice from the council.
According to Section 149 of the Highways Act 1980, “if anything is so deposited on a highway as to constitute a nuisance, the highway authority for the highway may by notice require the person who deposited it there to remove it forthwith.”
If the perceived nuisance isn’t removed by the owner within a week, the local authority may lodge a complaint with a magistrates’ court or remove the offending item themselves immediately.
We were shocked to find a council notice on our bike today saying it’s a nuisance that will be removed in 7 days.☹ We think it’s a fantastic example of healthy travel. It’s parked in a way that doesn’t block the pavement. Where can we move it? @metecoban92 @hackneycouncil pic.twitter.com/bIHYcVu86d
— Will Prochaska (@WillProchaska) September 6, 2022
After Will posted on Twitter about the unexpected notice (the result, it later transpired, of a complaint from another resident), arguing, like Ruth-Anna, that the bike doesn’t block the footpath and represents a “fantastic example” of healthy travel, Hackney Council was roundly condemned for what many viewed as its rather flippant response to the issue.
Responding to the post on social media, the council argued that Will’s bike “is causing an obstruction on the pavement so it would need to be removed and parked somewhere safe. This can be on your own private property or somewhere designated for bicycles.”
“I think the case shows the desperate need for cargo bike parking solutions in Hackney,” Will told road.cc at the time. “As it is, the way we park our bike never blocks the pavement, so the argument that it’s an obstruction is false.
“Hackney Council have led the way in the UK to support active travel, so this nuisance notice was a surprise. I suspect it’s indicative of an over-zealous council officer who may have a chip on their shoulder about cyclists.”
Credit: Twitter, bikesandbabies
Responding to road.cc’s request for comment, a spokesperson for Hackney Council said in September: “We’re London’s top borough for cycling, with nearly one in four of our residents cycling once a week and the most residential cycle parking of any London borough.
“We’ve just announced the introduction of 675 new cycle hangars, doubling what we already have, and it’s really important that we continue to encourage people to travel healthily, including by cargo bike.
“The aim of enforcement notices like this is to keep our pavements clear of obstructions for prams and people who use wheelchairs… However, we do recognise that it can be hard for people to park cargo bikes if they don’t have private space for it.”
Unsurprisingly, Hackney Council’s latest example of “encouraging people to travel healthily” – by making them remove their bikes from the footpath – hasn’t gone down too well on Twitter:
But this is fine. Spoiler they’re all illegally parked https://t.co/CNEJVzskXU
— Bob From Accounts 🚲 (@BobFromAccounts) October 22, 2022
Councils need to introduce some new guidelines which allow people to put their own bike parking sheds in the street. If a box with wheels outside is allowed, a box with wheels inside should be as well
— Talia Hussain (@Talia_inReality) October 23, 2022
There needs to be Sheffield stands in parking spaces on every road
— Tom Massey (@tomass78) October 22, 2022
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